Many types of multimedia are now available in a digital format, such as movies, music, and television programs. Consumers who wish to view or listen to multimedia may purchase physical copies of the multimedia, or they may license electronic copies of the multimedia. For example, compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) are now commonplace. Alternatively, consumers may purchase the right to have the multimedia broadcast to them by a broadcast system.
A broadcast system transmits multimedia to one or more recipients via a network. There are many different types of broadcast systems in operation today. For example, radio stations, cable stations, satellite systems and computer networks are all broadcast systems commonly used to transmit multimedia to users. Another more specific example is an Internet radio station that broadcasts audio to Internet users. An Internet radio station may simply be a simulcast of a traditional radio station. However, some Internet radio stations are completely independent from traditional radio stations and broadcast only on the Internet. The popularity of Internet radio and other broadcast systems is likely to continue to expand due to the increase in Internet connection speeds and the decrease in connection costs.
Digital multimedia may also be distributed to a consumer through a method commonly referred to as “streaming.” Multimedia may be transmitted from a server to a client over one or more computer networks. The server may access the multimedia and send it to the client as a continuous data stream. Streaming multimedia is often sent in compressed form over the network. With streaming multimedia, multimedia users will typically not have to wait to download a large multimedia file before seeing and/or hearing the multimedia. The multimedia file is instead sent in a continuous stream and is played as it arrives.
Because the amount of multimedia available to consumers continues to increase, consumers may wish to listen to a particular song or watch a particular video before they initiate purchase of the song or video. In addition, multimedia distributors may desire to increase the purchase of specific multimedia. In view of the above, it may be desirable to have a multimedia broadcast system that will process observing and purchasing behavior to provide multimedia broadcasts in the future that uniquely appeal to users or consumers. Furthermore, multimedia distributors may desire a multimedia broadcast system that will allow them to optimize future broadcasts to increase multimedia sales.